Princeton University - Bric A Brac Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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Professor H'. Menaild, Jr., Department of Mechanical Engineering ENGINEERING By Howard Menand, Jr., AB., M.B.A. Assistant to the Dean of the School of Engineering In order to determine properly the value of an engineer' ing education, it is necessary to define the role of an engineer in our society. Basically, an engineer utilizes natural resources and human resources for the heneit of mankind. The engineers education must he designed, therefore, to enable 'him to ill this role. Such a function requires, obviously, a broad training. The engineer must understand and he ahle to apply the laws of natural science. He must he completely familiar with all materials-in liquid, gaseous, or solid form-in order to design structures and products and have them function properly. And, to accomplish this, he must work with and through people-that is, he must he ahle to handle people, These responsilhilities result in an educaf tional program, onefthird to the field of engineering and onefthird is reserved for the use hy the student in electing courses in the humanities and social sciences. Since engineering is a profession, in addition to prof viding the young man with a halanced education, his undergraduate schooling is planned to enahle him to achieve proficiency in his future occupation. Professional education is the training of the mind as a preparation for mastery of a field. It is education, not vocational training, Professors J. C. Elgin, Chairmang E. F. Johnson, Jr., Department of Chemical Engineering Professors P. Kissam, Department of Civil .Engineeringg F. 'A. Heacock, Chairman, Department of Graphics and Engineering Drawingg G. P. Tschebotarioff, Department of Cwll Engineering

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Professors R. H. Dicke, A. Wheeler, Department of Physics Professors E S Wallis, H N Alyea, C E Bricker, Department o Chemzstry laboratory and reading and thinking and dreaming. Their understanding of science is of their own making. We offer understanding: facts and principles woven together into knowledge, ending with a sense of science as structure of knowledge. This may be disappointing, because underf standing is a delicate thing to hang an hourftest on, compared with brute facts that can be learned for immediate use! But brute facts rather like that dreadful liniment of turpentine that grandparents used on childrens' chests: impressive at -the time, then irritating, then Vanishf ing into a smell of pine woods, with no lasting value- except to the turpentine manufacturers. Princeton is not an intellectual -turpentine factory. Yet understanding, ill though it looks when asked for in examinations, has lasting benefits. It makes a Princeton engineer a irstfclass engineer, who knows what he's doing in contrast with the thirdfclass engineer, a necessary foreman with a wellfthumbed handbook. It can make a Princeton doctor a great surgeon, alive to the developments of his science. Gr it can make him a successful general doctor with a happy intellectual background. We also welcome the pure nonfscientist. To him we offer understanding of science, as background for working with scientists in industry, in government, in the armed forces, and as an intellectual resource in later life. Some may doubt whether mankind is made much happier or even better by insistent telephones, longfstoring iceboxes, pushbutton wifefsavers, or new and deadlier weapons, yet the real life of science lies not in these technical applications but in the growth of mankind's knowledge and understanding of Nature, of machines and materials, of rocks and living things, of this Earth and man himself, body and mind. Such growing under' standing is Science, and a sense of it is a part of Liberal education which Princeton owes to every student. Professors S. R. Heath, S. S. Tomkins, C. C. Pratt, Department of Psychology

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Professor C. D. Perkins, Chairman, De- partment of Aeronautical Engineering Professors H. M. Chandler, Jr., W. C. Johnson, Chair- mang C. H. Willis, Department of Electrical Engineering Professor W. M. Angas, Chairman, De- partment of Civil Engineering Professors A. E. Sorenson, E. W. Suppiger, C. P. Kittredge, W. E. Reaser, Department of Mechanical Engineering that develops the capacity of the individual to extend himself in his Held of endeavor. In professional education, the criterion of value is not what the graduate knows Five minutes after his graduation, but what he has become in fifteen years. Dugald C. Jackson once said: . . . lt is the business of the engineering schools to produce, not Hnished engineers, but young men with a great capacity for becoming engineers. The goal training in thought processes actually means education in the engineering way of thinking. A defif nition of the engineering method of thinking, which has been defined by many educators, includes two key conf cepts-the ability to think directly toward an answer and the ability to think in terms of specific things. Briefly, it is nonfabstract reasoning -toward a definite conclusion. To think as an engineer, a person must irst know enough about a problem to see what is relevant. Then he must be able to use his general knowledge to set up the -problem so that it can be solved. Third, he must have the proficiency in Ending solutions. And, hnally, he must be able to relate his solution to the practical conditions that exist in the 'business or industrial world. It is this ability to think clearly and objectively in a logical, orderly manner that gives meaning and value to an engineering education. That this value is recognized more and more is evidenced by the positions of great responsibility in government and business, as well as in the field of technology, which are occupied by men with an engineering education.